14 DAY TRIAL // Rockstar's decision to delay the release of the multiplayer mode for Grand Theft Auto 5 – GTA Online – has been detailed by co-founder Dan Houser, as the team wanted extra time to polish the online component and make sure that fans will dedicate their attention to the single-player first.
Grand Theft Auto V was launched almost two weeks ago, on September 17, and next week, on October 1, Rockstar will release as a free update GTA Online, the dedicated multiplayer mode that will allow players to take control of Los Santos and Blaine County using their own custom characters.
The delay was due to two major aspects, according to Rockstar co-founder Dan Houser, with the first being extra time to make sure everything works smoothly.
"To make games on this scale is very, very hard and anyone you speak to who works on those big games will, if they're honest, admit that there are a lot of moving parts. So, we were concerned that trying to finish them both for the same day would lead to a compromise in quality," he told Polygon.
"On a practical level, it was very important that they each get a period when they can be really focused on by large numbers of the team to iron out as many problems as possible."
Besides making sure the experience is attractive, Rockstar also wanted players to focus first on the single-player mode.
"I think we were concerned that some of our previous games, while they still had a very fun multiplayer component to them, it was almost like it was being cannibalized by the enormity of the single player game," he said. "People were just not focusing on it. So by moving it, we really wanted to go all in and make this much bigger, much more encompassing, a stand-alone product essentially."
Houser teased some ambitious plans for the multiplayer in GTA Online, so fans have a lot to look forward to next week.